Initiation Mysteries in Prax

From: Gary R Switzer <gswitzer_at_loop.com>
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 13:53:55 -0800


James Turner asks:

>As for Eiritha initiation, I get lost. Hang around in the
>dark until a Waha bloke comes and rescues you?

Well, yes actually, but it's what goes on while the young females wait in the dark that's important. Their Eirithan values are being tested too, as they get filled in on Secrets Only Women Know and (I suspect) menstruate for the first time. Some girls might have special visions, not menstruate, and thus be led to alternate cults such as the Axe Sister or Yelorna. Meanwhile the young men of the tribe guard the tent (or in some cases cave) where this is happening, having their own vision quests, wrestling with spirits, etc.

    "Dinner was not served in our way, there being no removes, but everything brought in together on a freshly cured hide: we all reached out and took lumps with our fingers, unless it was very soft when we used spoons made of tortoiseshell. The centerpiece was a roasted impala calf with a sort of pudding of rice and grains, stained bright yellow, in its belly, and the Bolo chieftain seized it by the legs, tearing it very neatly to pieces for us."

Gary R. Switzer
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